Giant piggy bank

Newme2014

I started the buying process for my very first flat back in August, it's still going through the solicitors and my hope of getting the keys by the time my flat rental is up at the start of Dec is slowly fading. Oh well, everything but the clothes on my back into storage and off to the patents I will go. Figured I may as well start up a diary now to keep track of things

So, for now, here's the mortgage offer

Property value: £194,000
Purchase price: £193,000
Borrowing: £182,350 + £999 fees= £183,349
Term: 30 years
Fixed rate of 5.19% ends 31/12/16 then variable rate
First payment: £1418.46
25 payments: £1001.33
334 payments: £878.00 (depending on variable rate but currently 3.99%)
Total repayable : £320,808.98!!!!!!! :eek:

I'll be allowed to overpay up to 10% and underpay up to the amount I've overpayed.

I was paying £1000pm rent in my last flat and saving £300-£700pm towards my deposit so know I can afford to overpay without having to sell my kidneys but hoping this diary will help me stay in track as £320k is WAAAAAY too much! I'm going to treat the flat as a piggy bank and try and get a decent amount of equity into it in the next 2 years.

Newme2014

Oh and a quick intro about me, I'm 31, female, single, no kids and I'm very lucky that I have a good job and no debts.
I do all my spending on my tesco credit card and it gets paid off every month.
I'm rubbish at remembering to spend my points though but did remember to trade in £50 for £150 of storage vouchers, this SHOULD cover me till I can move out, just a bit miffed I'll have to get a van twice to get everything into then out of storage, there's a small chance a mate might be able to borrow a van from his work but it depends on my shifts and his.

Oh and I know the mortgage might not look great but it's the best deal several brokers came up with.

I did have £20,000 in savings but my parents needed some help so I leant them £8,000 that they are paying back at £200pm for now until my dads pensions all change next year and he'll pay back a bit more. I've told them not to stress over it though as it won't effect (or is it affect, I'm not very good with words sometimes) my way of life. I'll be using that money as my base overpayment.
I'm also on lots of survey sites, need to get back into swagging, I'm with quidco and also part of a really good cash back site through my work that I can order reload able voucher card thingies at % off so I try to plan my clothes shopping and load up my cards for NLook and m&s etc

That's a really rambly post, sorry, just getting my thoughts down

egoode

Good luck with the purchase I hope it goes smoother than mine did which was 17 months from offer to completion but I knew quite early on there were issues that were going to delay it significantly just didn't realise quite how long that delay would be!

Also while you are at your parents put what your mortgage payment will be in a savings account and you'll already have your first overpayment ready to go once the completion goes through.

Newme2014

Ouch! I really hope it doesn't take that long! I think I'm just being very impatient though as I worked out its only been 10wks since the offer was accepted and I read somewhere that the current average is 15wks. So, fingers crossed I'll only be back there a few weeks. I just want to get in and I have a strange urge to get a Xmas tree and all the decorations even though im not really a xmassy person and I spend Xmas day and Boxing Day at my parents anyway. I must control these decorating urges till I'm at least living there!

On the topic of Xmas I am very lucky that my family isn't really bothered about presents (same for birthdays) we buy little things for each other through the year when we actually need them or we take each other out for dinner or days out. We might get a couple of silly little stocking gifts and the obligatory socks for dad but nothing much.
Although thinking about this now in the moneysaving mindset it's not great for budgeting I guess and when it comes to my parents I tend to not think too much about spending on them, they never ask for anything expensive and I always price check and get cash back where I can but I tend to insist on paying for dinners, or shopping etc. I just know how much they struggled when I was a kid and kind of feel that now I have a well paid job it's my turn to look after them. This is one area of my spending I'm just not sure I'll be able to reign in. Although I did manage to stop myself the other day when she said she wanted a new laptop as her pc was pretty much dead, I researched suitable ones for her, took her to have a play in a computer shop picked one out and any peripherals she needed. Went home, printed off some 8% off gift cards that I can get through work, went back the next day and made sure we spent just over the value of the cards and put the rest on my credit card then she gave me a cheque to cover it all and for the first time I actually cashed it!

Right that's enough waffling for today, night

coldcazzie

Hello Newme welcome!

I think it took us 13 weeks to purchase our house, and it probably would have taken longer except we really pushed to move (I was really ill) and our vendors ended up moving into their new house before they'd completed on the purchase! I hope you are moved in time for Christmas

Have you a target in mind for how much you'd like to overpay each month or is it just every little helps?

Will try to keep up with your diary!

Newme2014

Hi, thanks for reading my waffling.
For a start the £200 pm my dad pays back and hopefully a min of £200 of my wages. I've also got boxes and boxes of stuff to fleabay so anything I make from that but I do want to make sure I'm still putting some into emergency savings. I guess at some point I should try and do an SOA so I can really work out what I've got.

egoode

Newme2014 wrote: »

I guess at some point I should try and do an SOA so I can really work out what I've got.

I've not done a SOA on here but back in June I started using You Need A Budget (YNAB) until I started using it I had no idea how much I was spending each month and it was quite eye-opening! Now I at least know what I spend each month I'm concentrating on specific categories to try and reduce my spend in them each month. I've tackled Take-Aways and Taxis over the last couple of months. Next my plan is to tackle how much I spend on meals out with friends. I'm hoping I can do this without completely losing my social life!

I have to say YNAB has been great for me. Took a bit of time to get my head around how their system works but I couldn't be without it now. I'm hoping it will help me save money quicker to do some of the building plans I've got for my flat sooner.

coldcazzie

A SOA is definitely helpful if you've not done one before! it can be quite eye opening to see what is going where and then seeing how much you can cut back.

Newme2014

Must not hunt down solicitors
Must not hunt down solicitors
Must not hunt down solicitors
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Rang a while ago to get an update, was told all the searches were back and the conveyancer was looking over them and I'd get a report in a few days to look over and sign.
Rang again today as still no sign of anything after three weeks! "We hope to have it back by Thursday" oh really? Well excuse me for being a little disbelieving but you've told me before it'll just be a few days. "I'll contact them and ask them to make you a priority" hmmmm I won't hold my breath.
I fully understand that I'm not the only client and that leasehold properties have a lot of paperwork that needs checking but I'm so fed up of calling them and feeling like nothing is being done. They still haven't even updated the online milestone report I can log on to since 17/10!!

blackste

Newme2014 wrote: »

Must not hunt down solicitors
Must not hunt down solicitors
Must not hunt down solicitors

Hell with that, you are paying them, and in my experience, if you dont badger them, they put the people who do at the top of the list.

Newme2014

Im hoping after I had a rant at her today she'll get who ever is dealing with the paper work to pull their finger out.